Nevertheless, I was thrilled that someone actually read it and referred it!! Later i realized, that because of this reference, the blog had booming statistics for a day! So, I am now wondering if i should thank the youthconnectmag or the simple humble real life hero for inspiring me to write this note ?

When i clicked on “Tossing it out” and saw P is Prison movies, I know this one was easy. Lot of regional movies has prison in its main theme.

But the first thought when to the movie called Chirai (Prison) – It is a Tamil regional movie of 1984, based on the story written by a Tamil novelist Anuradha Ramanan. Apparently, this storyline was very progressive – it handled a sensitive topic, where an orthodox traditional married women makes a decision which is beyond the tradition! This movie brought in the stunning logic for the then traditional society (it is still the same in many parts of the world). When the married women gets assaulted sexually, her husband disowns her – now here is this lady who already is a victim and also being held responsible for being a victim! She makes a bold decision to move into the house of the assaulter himself, who already has realized his wrong-doing and supports her till the end and gives a very decent quality of life! The story ends where the lady decide to live as a widow of the assaulter than her husband who deserted her ! What this movie portrayed was the biassed outlook of a society – which is way off from being a gender-neutral society!

In general, even today, many parts of the society look at the victim of sexual assault condescendingly – the victim itself is considered partly responsible for the crime – when the infamous Delhi incident happened as recently as December 2012, there were unprecedented supporting voices for women safety from every corner of the world. At the same time, there was this view of “can one hand clap?” from some parts of the society !!

While there is lot to be said about this sensitive topic of women safety around the world, it goes without saying that we not only need stricter laws but a sweeping mindset change, where every human being is looked at as a human being than as a women or men…!

Am sure we are progressing as a society, but have still a long way before we say we arrived! Till then – for those lovely women folks around the world – TAKE CARE, BE BOLD & STAY SAFE!

Like this:

It is 100th anniversary of international women’s day !! I still feel the same about this…what i felt years back….that wish still seems to be a secret wish!!….especially when you are in the realms of corporate world where you continue to work through the daily chores of everyone’s psycho maps and get things done and still love those few nice moments (a small note, a text message, that little fluttered morning wish from a security staff, the little smile from a junior staff in the elevator, the big laugh in the cafeteria over ginger tea) – life for any gender is by and large influenced by that first circle of folks who we constantly meet or interact with and most of the time it is just that handful…

The factors which seem to be different for a women arises majorly due to couple of reasons

people/society just see her as a women physically than as a fellow human being!

mother nature still holds to the fact that only women can bear children!

Every other factor tends to fade in the background if these two are handled well! Just being constantly aware …. Constantly aware of Self , Environment , individual rights and one’s own values helps!

The understanding that there is really no right and wrong when it comes to gender diversity views is another step for us! – being financially dependent on her husband did not make any difference to my grandmom’s freedom of thought hundred years ago! She never knew the existence of women’s liberation – she was born and also married into families which were traditionally patriarchal – still she was the decision maker for the family at large – men folks wanted to listen to her – she managed huge weddings – she was there for everyone! There was no gender bias coming in!!

While the modern world brought the humanity lot of advantages, it also brought in its own challenges – while it is nice to have those focussed groups to support and encourage gender neutral practices in various walks of our daily life, the fact still remains that the individual (be it whatever gender) mostly decide their own destiny! As a man thinketh!! (a good debate topic for those feminist forums to find why James Allen did not write “As a woman thinketh!”)

Ofocurse – wishes to all those great and lovely women around the world – world is what it is today becoz of the different roles you all play – daughter, sister, mother, friend, boss, subordinate, etc…etc… you make a difference in the lives of every one around you!! Take care of yourself! Be aware! Be blessed!

When I found that many are cutting short the three-day conference to two days and getting back home earlier, I was upset .. Upset because I prioritized the third day at the conference over my little one’s annual music day at school. I still could have done a replanning – aversion to last-minute replanning, late nights at airports and to some extent my laziness overtook (I also had an iota of sincerity quotient towards participating in the conference) – I decided to continue on the thrid day.

It was still haunting to remember that expectant voice and little face “amma, can you come on Friday morning atleast for the music day?”. I decided I need to give my little one something which will to some extent compensate my absence. It struck me then that I can take something which is unique – an autography from his favorite cricketer Rahul Dravid – it is almost two years since the little one got Dravid’s autograph on a two-inch paper and I was impressed by this cricketer. Rahul exhibited that he is a true hero – read the detail here.

So, I had updated my colleagues that I am going to manage to get Rahul Dravid’s autograph during the valedictory session on the third day – while I was extremely aware that it is a formal forum and I may look a bit out-of-place asking for his autograph, I was encouraged by my desire to compensate my absence on my little one’s school day back at home – ofcourse, there were other colleagues who really were fans of Dravid’s cricket skills unlike me who were also planning to take a picture or an autograph from him

I literally grabbed the opportunity when Rahul was waiting at the first row corner to get into the stage – I dashed to him with a notebook and pen and showed this notebook telling in a low voice that it is for my son and his name his karthik – I saw a momentary shock on his face and also probably some irritation (when he is focussing to get to the stage in an official forum, sure he did not expect this!) – that was just momentary – he took the pen, wrote my son’s name and gave his autograph. A minute and it was all done – true hero obliging to his fan’s request.

To Karthik – Best wishes – Rahul Dravid

His session started and I was once again in for surprise – his humble nature and the ability to laugh at himself were quickly taking up the audience by fire. While you can watch the video here

Few quotes which captured my attention are

Aggression is a mind thing

Stay at the cocoon of the moment and do it again and again and again – ability to put your mind to the moment needs skill

Cricket somehow brings you down to the earth – all of us are hardwired to deal with failure

Emotional energy which is lost due to failure is very important to deal and then get back

Coming second to Sachin or Laxman is NOT such a bad thing. Coming second to someone mediocre is something bad

My surprise indeed continued when i saw him in the same flight back home – in the economy section, two seats in front of me…again being that same humble, polite, wanting to establish that feeling of “I am one among all of you!” – still accommodating the fans who were asking for an autograph or a picture with him – through the flight, on the ground near the baggage collection area – ofcourse, I was satisfied with the elaborate autograph for the little one which I got in the evening!!

Once again, it was witnessing the real hero – is it just being humble OR is it being Rahul Dravid – looks like it is Humble and being Rahul Dravid!!

Share this:

Like this:

It was a casual review about the fresh face in south Indian cinema – Samanthaprabhu – during that context the latest gossip about her and her co-actor Siddarth came up.

A disclaimer here – the intent was not gossiping mindlessly about the cine actors – infact, I am actually at awe about the positive outlook of our Bollywood (tolly/kolly/etc,etc-wood) actors and their perseverance. Many a times, I draw my daily dose of positive energy from their interviews in Bangalore Times (I reserve my thoughts for another article to describe the actors intelligent interviews).

Reading their interviews is a refresher – especially after I end up getting uncomfortably desolate reading the front page of any newspaper which off late mostly highlights the terrible side of this worldly life – gender violence, politics, financial scams, major natural calamities, etc…etc….

So, when the comment on Siddarth went like this “ever since his divorce, the man is making up for lost time! Some girl is always linked up with him and it is now Samantha…”, My immediate reaction is to negate it “not really…i doubt if he is all that focussed on girls. His focus is on marketing his movies and himself and he is doing it smartly…”

To set the backdrop, my reaction was based on the fact that I follow Siddarth in twitter. It is few months since I started following him on twitter @Actor_Siddarth to understand how these actors think and till date I have not thought about unfollowing him – he keeps his tweets interesting and serves my purpose of getting that view of life from an Indian actor. His tweets consistently reinforce my belief that movie industry is a tough career choice and the current genre of actors are smart and hardworking and our Indian cinema is progressing great as an industry! I see lot of learning from these actors from the leadership and personal development perspective, which can be of interest to any person who is in the people business (ofcourse, I am referring to running a successful IT services industry!)

Siddarth understands twitter is a great media – and he uses the power of twitter well. I ended up (psycho) analysing this actor through his tweets… he projects himself as

a guy from middle class Indian family – the friendly next door guy – his love for cricket and other sports immediately positions him in that image

at the same time, he also weaves in the tomboy image – interest in women seems to be part of that image building exercise

intelligent and passionate about his profession – the world of movies

angry young man who is upset with the red tapism, political inabilities, etc – his followers gets lost in that angry young man magic image (remember the yesteryear Amitabh?) that they hardly care about what is constructive outcome of that anger

activist who supports social causes – gender inclusivity, support of anti-piracy,

intellect who loves intelligent people and new initiatives – be it movies or others – retweets of his movie fraternity

networked and connected with the bigwigs of the industry

selfless personality who supports his co-stars and wishes them in their endeavours

Overall, he weaves in that fabric which shows him as an intellect that attracts the interest of most of the internet generation – what is impressive is his subtle good marketing sense.

It is extremely essential for anyone in showbiz career to be good at self-marketing if they need to succeed and Siddharth does it well – six lakhs followers on twitter is a testimony to his skills.

From my perspective – he is one of the smartest kids on the block and to be watched – he makes money and he invests his money intelligently back in the movies- he has the right connections and projects them well – his communication skills are exemplary – the only pitfall he needs to watch is the excessive sarcasm on the happenings around him, especially when it comes to politics – if he could use his celebrity status intelligently and be a catalyst to bring in changes to political system than just being sarcastic – he really zooms up in my assessment!

Good luck, Siddarth! Think better and do well and you can be a social catalyst!

It was always in the back of my mind – a small throbbing of uncomfortable feeling! From the time when I heard about Nithyasri’s personal incident, I was more concerned on when she will come back – I never had any doubt about her coming back, but was not sure of the period she is going to take to get back with confidence.

When I came to know that she was back on music academy with the support of her dear friend musician Sowmya, I had stop my work and google to get more inputs on her comeback. It indeed was so heartening to see her back in her normal avatar..

Courtesy – Sowmya.org

While we will never know the real reasons of why and what caused this talented woman to face such an incident in her life, I only want to say that it is extremely important for many women to know that Nithya came back to get on with her life and her life’s purpose! Her comeback exhibits the courage of an individual, a woman who wants to put the trauma behind her! She indeed will be a role model not just for the budding musicians but also for those scores of South Indian Women!

What a pleasant way to start 2013 – I really felt that our police services are making genuine effort to be more people friendly….

This is what happened today evening – we were in the Cauvery circle near Sadhashiva nager and suddenly a traffic police pops up and gives a card – my first thought was it is some safety advisory …, but when i opened it – BINGO!! NEW YEAR WISHES !!

Share this:

Like this:

When I saw the invite for the book publishing event in my mail box from Anitha, I wanted to go. Two reasons – Anitha is one of the persons whom I can just sit for hours together without even talking much and feel completely at ease; two of Anitha’s prize-winning short stories are part of the book which was published that day.

While I had never been to this kind of event before, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. I reached the event little late (they had already published the book which Anitha said is the main event!), I think I was present for the best part of it – reading the extracts from the stories which were published in that book.

I was mesmerized when one of the women rendered a paragraph from Anitha’s story – I could not believe that such a voice modulation, clarity and emotion can all be brought in by anyone – especially a frail looking women. I just wanted to sit there and listen to her reading all the stories from that book for ever.

Anitha updated me that it was Jyoti Makhija, one of the famous theatre personalities in Bangalore. It also stuck me later that majority of the participants (including the audience) were women – women who gave a feeling that they are intellectual, who are matured and mostly over 50. It again reiterated the fact that women have more interests in life as a group and still want to believe in fiction.

ps-I was highlighting that I was impressed that lot of women are interested in english literature. I got an immediate response “Women do all the running round. Men sit and write” I liked the intended pun from Anitha on this!! :):)

Share this:

Like this:

Gas booking had been always an elusive chore for me in the past. The Gas distributor use to open his shop by 10 am and promptly shut down by 5.30 pm – Many a days I was so consumed at my work (ok, u saw through the excuse!! :) ), I will miss the time window for gas booking. So, I use to wait for a Saturday ………..

So, when the Indane Gas announced the streamlined LPG GAS Booking through IVRS around May last year, I was one of those who was relieved. I went through the details on the newspapers (Now Book Indane Gas any hour of the day), promptly understood the process and noted down the relevant new numbers. I started using the Indane gas IVRS and once I got my phone number registered, all I need to do was to press few numbers on the phone pad and I was done. I was thrilled that the technology solved my gas booking challenge!! Happy ……….

Having solved my gas booking challenge, I was living ‘happily ever after’……….Suddenly, one day my maid started complaining that she is not getting her LPG cylinder on time……..As I was busy in the kitchen and with my limited mixed up local language skills, all I understood was – she needs me to book her LPG. I did not even react as I was not sure why she is asking me to do her booking – especially she witnesses my daily morning crazy circus in the kitchen trying to meet my target of school bus…….and how does she think I will have time to do a gas booking?

Then over the weekend (when my mornings are not-so-crazy), she mentioned that she took help from one of her friends for gas booking, but was not successful. I was intrigued now as I thought the IVRS is the most simple way to get the gas booking and why it is tough for my maid and her friend. My maid is definitely a smart lady – she is good in using her mobile phone – she has even suggested me on how to download ring tones!! So, why is this IVRS tough for her? I told her there is also “Kannada“version of IVRS.

For a minute, she looked at me as though I am crazy and said “amma, athunalli matthaduvadhu computer amma……………(Madam, if you call that number, it is computer which is talking to you. If you say something also, it will keep telling, please press this number, please press that number……they have put some computer which can not understand what we are talking…..and it will never take our booking)!!”……….I was completely flabbergasted and then could not control laughing……….